


The Other Man

by Newagenewbarricade



Series: All's Fairgame in Love and War [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Hare isn't Lying per se, M/M, Misunderstandings, hare is there for literally less than a paragraph so im not tagging her, she is just...misinformed, soft dunking on Ironwood, theres no actual infidelity I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Newagenewbarricade/pseuds/Newagenewbarricade
Summary: “The captain is married, birdbrain. Their kid is like ten or something. So I’d suggest you chase someone else’s coattails.”Qrow gets some surprising information about Captain Ebi and confronts him about it
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: All's Fairgame in Love and War [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777015
Comments: 9
Kudos: 39





	The Other Man

“Qrow, I’m actually glad I caught you,” Bree said with a slightly sour tinge to her face.

“You are?” Qrow quirked an eyebrow at her, Bree didn’t seem the type to be glad to see  _ any  _ of her coworkers, much less him and his flock.

“Okay so, let me preface this by saying that I couldn’t care less what you  _ or  _ the captain do in your off-hours.”

Qrow blinked,

“Okay?” He didn’t like where this was going.

“But the last thing we need is the captain in the middle of a messy custody battle on top of everything  _ else _ going on right now.”

“What?”

“The captain is  _ married, _ birdbrain. Their kid is like ten or something. So I’d suggest you chase someone else’s coattails.”

Qrow felt like he’d been stabbed, he went to ask Hare some clarifying questions but she was already leaving. He took the hem of his cape in his hands and rubbed the fabric between his fingers. Until he could find Clover and confront him about this he supposed stress stimming was better than nothing. He leaned against the wall as he thought over every interaction he’d ever had with Clover, had there been hints? Was he the laughing stock of Atlas for being so enamored with a married man?

Clover spotted Qrow and gave him an enthusiastic wave,

“Qrow! I was just about to grab a quick coffee before my patrol, care to join me?”

“So, when were you planning on telling me you’re married?”

Clover blinked, “ _ What _ ?”

Qrow sighed, “You could at least be honest with me.”

“Qrow I’m  _ not  _ married, where did you even get that idea?” He was a good actor, Qrow had to admit that.

“Bree told me, you’re married with a fucking  _ kid  _ Cloves, I know I’m not the best guy but did you seriously think I would be okay with being a homewrecker?”

Clover’s eyes widened as he seemed to realize something,

“Come with me? I promise I’ll explain everything.”

“Tch, this better be good.” Qrow still couldn’t find it in himself to say no to Clover, even knowing what he knew.

“I swear, everything will make sense.”

Clover led Qrow on a short walk to his apartment, he spent most of his time lately in the Ace-Op’s quarters but it seemed he only lived a few minutes away from Atlas’s main campus. It was a nice enough building. Clover assured him once they were at his place everything would be clear. Qrow crossed his arms as they took the seemingly glacially slow elevator up to Clover’s apartment. Clover unlocked the door and motioned for Qrow to follow him inside.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then Clover had about a library’s worth of them on his walls. A life in images, a life Qrow knew virtually nothing about. One of the first to catch Qrow’s attention was one obviously from Clover’s academy days. It was Clover, his team, and four more students. Clover didn’t talk much about his former team, but Qrow had been able to gather that something had happened to them. One girl with brown hair and freckles was leaning on Clover’s shoulder, probably his sister if Qrow had to guess. There was also a medium brown-skinned man with blonde hair kissing Clover on the cheek. Qrow felt his stomach twist, not in jealousy, in  _ shame _ . He found himself staring at the Faunus girl, something about her seemed familiar, not just because if she had straight hair she could’ve been a cousin of Blake’s. He vaguely remembered hearing about the first faunus student at Atlas, James had mentioned they’d admitted one his senior year.

“Violetta, my partner,” Clover said with a hint of  _ something _ in his voice that Qrow couldn’t quite place.

Qrow cleared his throat as he tore his gaze away from the purple-haired girl. Clover motioned for the other man to follow him further into the apartment, 

“Sit down and I’ll explain everything.” Clover patted the arm of a lounge chair.

“Clover? What are you doing home?” A smoky voice called out from the kitchen.

“I could ask you the same thing, Pleasant this is Qrow,” he motioned to the man beside him, “Qrow this is Pleasant, my  _ roommate _ .”

Qrow recognized Pleasant as one of the other students from the photo he’d been examining earlier. They were pretty easy to place considering half their body was covered in scars, including a missing eye, 

“I wasn’t expecting to meet you so soon, Clover has told me a lot about you.” Pleasant itched the skin just above their eyepatch, “Sorry I’m a bit frazzled, Rosie has a fever, it’s why I’m not at the academy.”

“Is she okay?” Clover asked, the worry in his voice making it clear Rosie must’ve been the child Bree mentioned. 

“I think it’s just one of those twenty four hour things but I’ve got her in bed drinking lots of tea. I’m sure she’d be happy to get a surprise visit from her dad though.” They tilted their head and blinked, but it had the energy of a playful wink.

“So, just to be clear, you two are  _ not  _ married?” Qrow asked.

“Who knows at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ironwood took the  _ liberty  _ of updating our files without telling us,” Pleasant said with a shrug,

“He sure did give me that  _ are you sure  _ look when I added Rosie as my next of kin and you as my emergency contact but didn’t list you as a spouse.” Clover said with an eye roll, “Afterall,”

“ _ Ironwood knows best _ .” Clover and Pleasant said in sync.

“I thought you trusted Ironwood with your life, Cloves.”

“Oh I do, doesn’t mean he isn’t the most uh, emotionally literate man I’ve ever met.” 

Qrow snorted in amusement,

“Well, that’s the  _ tactful  _ way to put it.”

“So, do you believe me now?” Clover asked.

“Yes Cloves, I believe you.”

He visibly relaxed, “Good, now that that’s out of the way, while we’re here…Would you like to meet my daughter?”

“I’d be  _ honored _ , Clover.”

“Come on, her rooms right over here.” Clover nodded down the hall.

“Lead the way,” Qrow said with a smile as he followed him.

Clover knocked softly on the slightly ajar door,

“I heard someone wasn’t feeling well?” He poked his head in as he eased the door open.

“Dad? What are you doing here?” The girl had her blankets pulled up to her chin. Qrow couldn’t help but think about when Ruby and Yang were ill as little girls. While the girl seemed a bit tall for her age she couldn’t have been much older than twelve or thirteen at the most.

“Can’t I just want to see how my little Rosebud is doing?” Clover smiled as he pressed the back of his hand to the child’s forehead, the smile fell off his face, “Plez wasn’t kidding sweetie you’re burning up! If you’re not any better by the time I get back from my patrol I’m calling the doctor.”

“Daaad I’m fine stop fussing.” The girl whined, but Qrow could tell from the look in her eyes she was happy to have her father’s attention on her.

“It’s my job to fuss over you!” He kissed her on the forehead.

“ _ Gross _ ” She frowned, “Wait, are you Mr.Qrow?” She pointed at Qrow, “My dad has told me about you.” She added with a smile.

Qrow chuckled, “Yeah kiddo, I’m Qrow, does your dad talk about me a lot?” He felt a bit bad for teasing Clover but given how much his kids teased  _ him  _ it was only fair.

The teenager rolled her eyes, “Oh  _ brothers  _ all the time! He kept talking about wanting to bring you here to meet me and Za but he didn’t want to move too fast or whatever, but you’re here so I guess he finally made a move.”

“Rosehip! I think that’s enough.” Poor Clover was beet red after his daughter finished her  _ scathingly  _ honest speech.

“I’m going to let you get some more rest okay sweetie?” Clover stood up and headed out of Rosehip’s room, closing the door softly once Qrow had followed him out.

“So, now that you know I’m not married, would you like to get dinner with me sometime? Not tonight, of course, I’m heading back here to take care of Rosie after my patrol. But sometime this week?” Clover asked with a bashful smile on his face.

“I’d love to.” Qrow kissed Clover on the cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> I love all the "Clover thinks Tai and Qrow are married" fics so I got inspired to do a lil reversal of that trope!  
> Pleasant is an oc in my clover backstory fic, want to know more about them then I suggest you head over there ;)


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